Power shift, Part I

Yves Michel Gabay, international business and development director of communications planning firm Mediaedge CIA MENA, certainly agrees there. He is focused on two things: reinforcing the client-agency relationships, and driving a better deal. “For the clients you already have you need to be more convincing, you need to explain more,” he says. “You really have to rationalize and give some good arguments about what you want to do.”

What’s more, he argues, the balance of power has now shifted, and since there is more space available than advertiser demand, it leaves the advertisers and planning agencies in a position of strength for once. “We have been more aggressive on the rates, because now the conditions are with us,” he says.

But where does that leave the media outlets, and what about the primacy of content?